Art Machine Vision

The principal aim of the work is to explore ideas connected to our visual and physical relationships with technology and ways in which we as viewers, and consumers of media, engage with digital technologies. The project asks questions concerning our idea of vision and the act of seeing or visualization altered through the influence and reliance on (digital) technological apparatus? Through practical application and presentation, how might it be possible to re-conceptualize our notion of vision and ‘seeing’ via material and technological mediation? The exhibition derived from work produced for MOSI ‘Art-Machine-Vision’ exhibition (2007). The representation and refinement of the works further developed ideas about the relationship between art and technology and included ‘live’ video interaction, single and multi-screen video, and adapted commercial technologies. Works aimed to provoke ideas, responses and reactions to the way we engage with digital technologies as well as the notions of ‘seeing’. Two works were completed, aligning with the exhibition’s central investigation and theme. 1. Magnification: Magnification asked visitors to consider the way in which we as viewers, understand and interact with digital technologies as objects/artefacts. Viewers were invited to observe a series of 3-D CGI animations, presented on small digital displays, via glass magnification lens. Through the reinvention of everyday technologies and the re-presentation of familiar materials, the aim was to generate a disharmony between material and expectation. 2. Interactive Eyes Interactive eyes responded to perceived notions of artificial intelligence and our desire to connect with the digital machine. Using the distorted form of the human eye to track movement, these eight separate works create a pseudo- interconnected community, parodying the concept of artificial life and the intelligent machine. The project enhances understanding of how we use digital technologies to augment our activity of viewing and reexamine the role that technology plays in visualizing the world around us. Workshops associated with the exhibition were held to discuss the ideas and explain the processes undertaken during the production.